Planet With is an anime that likely leaves many unimpressed when they look at the cover and makes for a solid proof that you cannot judge a book by it’s cover or even by it’s first episode. Many have overlooked this show in it’s season but for those that did give it chance it went above and beyond expectations. It is the first original anime work of Satoshi Mizukami, who is most well known for Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer and Spirit Circle which are both highly lauded manga and personal favorites of myself. The story is twelve episodes long and yet tells a tale that could very well have been two cours in it’s small span of time. Now in many cases that would be disastrous and result in a rushed mess of an anime but Planet With beats all odds and not only manages to make it work, but provide a masterclass in using a single cour to its fullest potential. It’s writing is top notch, this show never wastes your time and things are always escalating and subverting your expectations, making you never truly know just what is coming next.

The story involves a boy with amnesia who is dragged into a war between humans and aliens. Indeed the setup seems rather rote but by the first episodes end things start getting changed up. The boy isn’t fighting the Aliens but instead the humans and the agendas of each faction become a lot more than simple world domination. The characters can at first be trope heavy but end up with a depth to them that you wouldn’t expect. Eventually the stories scale grows grander that it resembles the escalation of Gurren Lagann. In fact as far as similarities go, Gurren Lagann and it’s old school mecha contemporaries make an apt comparison. The is a hot bloodedness to the action but also a playfulness to character interaction that lets things flow naturally. It’s a show that knows when to buckle down and get serious while spotting times it needs to take itself less seriously. So you never quite question yourself on why you are so invested in a show with a giant mascot cat fighting a dragon while an alien dog watches with his secretary. While there are aspects of animation, art and music which could be more polished, the writing is something I have a hard time criticizing. Any nits i could pick could be attributed to the shows one cour length but a lesser writer would have caused it all to fall apart.

There are negatives to this in that it takes a few episodes for this show to truly start, the mecha battles are done with awkward CGI which while watchable is still jarring and can’t match animation, the music can get a bit too cheesy as it goes for traditional hot blooded mecha style, the name of the show is hard to google and the ending could have used a bit more of a epilogue. But the more critical negative is that much like the rest of Satoshi’s work, this will likely remain a anime gem not getting the popularity it deserves. Still I implore those willing to listen to at least give it a chance as it deserves that much. With enough time perhaps people can look back on this and come to appreciate everything this show did.

The madman actually did it. Satoshi managed to take a massive story and crush it into 12 episodes without anything feeling too rushed. To be perfectly fair this episode did need a bit more of a epilogue and if we had a OVA episode to just go over what the character did after this then I feel like this show would be prefect. As far as Satoshi’s work goes it’s certainly my favorite anime from him but that’s mainly be virtue of being the only anime he’s ever made. In terms of his other work I would say that it ranks third below Biscuit hammer and Spirit Circle. Though I have yet to read Sengoku Youko which also seems to be fairly highly lauded. For his first outing in anime i would consider this a great success, Satoshi has shown himself to be a strong anime scriptwriter. In fact he may very well be better at anime script writing than manga as he know how to make use of the time he is given. Satoshi was given 12 episodes to write this story and he made full use of them.

Truly I cannot sing praises enough and it’s a damn shame that Planet With is a underwatched as it is. For the fact of the matter is that Satoshi has made a better Trigger anime than Studio Trigger ever has.(And trigger certainly did try and fail with Darling.) Well on to the episode itself, it acted as a great conclusion to the story. While I wish the battle was more action packed it still was an exhilarating fight with the heroes pushing the dragon into subspace. The dragons mental attack on Souya was certainly a surprise until I recall that Souya is the one of the only ones who never got a sealing device flashback. The dragons motive was certainly interesting, compelling Souya to hate him and act as device to carry on the dragons sense of justice. The contradiction is certainly interesting as the dragon looks to know that his actions are wrong but still feels that his line of thinking is right and wants someone to carry on his will.

This and the dragons final dream of his human family goes to show that his time as a human truly did change him but not enough to truly change his line of thinking. I will admit that the music in this episode could get a bit overbearing cheesy, in particular when the people of paradise pulled Souya out of the dream. Nonetheless there were some truly great moments like Ginko’s conflicted gratitude towards the dragon for inadvertently saving her home by attacking Sirius and breaking down over finally being able to express it after all this time. I loved the design of the dragons inner self and the final dream of his that finally allowed him to join his race being of his life as a human, showing that the silly old man we all love could very well have had a massive impact on this story. Lets not forgot Souya pushing the dragon into the subspace hole with a clog punch and everything returning to where it all started, at the dead planet of Sirius.

The last thing that the people of paradise say to Souya has a strange impact, namely that we can view this story from whatever view you like. What is right and wrong here is highly dependant on the one looking and if you look at it there is a far amount of moral ambiguity in what happened here. But all accounts the thinking of the sealing faction and the dragon isn’t necessarily wrong, though there actions are questionable. Well this has been a hell of a ride, it had a slow start but once it got going Planet With never let up. Again i think it could have used one more episode, though not to tie up loose ends as they most certainly did tie up everything with the last episode but rather just for viewer satisfaction. I at least would have liked confirmation on Nozo and Souya’s relationship through heavily hinted and I think some cooldown time was needed after the climax as it really did feel like it cut off too suddenly. But regardless this was a show that remained constantly unpredictable and fun throughout its run with it being my favorite of the season.

Forgive me for not covering this last week but believe me when I say it wasn’t due to lack of interest. Planet With still remains a show that just tops itself with every episode. Though I don’t have much to say about episode ten other than it being another episode which could have acted as a finale to the entire series. It’s interesting that the names of Generalissimo and Sensei turned out to be Karellen and Rashaverak which are the names of the alien overlords in Author C Clarkes “Childhoods End”, a reference which truthfully I can’t quite discern the meaning of. I mean there is a certain similarity in themes of humanity evolving and aliens interfering with humanity in order to guide them towards a certain path but admittedly it could just as well be a small reference. The fight between the pacifist faction and the sealing faction was some good old mecha showdown action the likes I have not seen since Gurren Lagann. It could have very well have tied this series up with a satisfying bow but we have a time sip where we face off against the final boss of the series, the dragon on the dark side of the moon. Episode eleven really felt like a set up episode as it primarily focused on where everyone was after five years. Most ended up working for Nebula and even Nozomi is becoming a very powerful telepath. So now Ginko is a christmas cake, Takazou died choking on mochi,(Honestly thought it would be the steak to do him in) Benika, Hideo and Yousuke are working with Nebula with it not being established if any romance happened, Miu and Harumi spent college forcing Souya into the judo club so they could kick the crap out of him and bully him regularly(Might be a bit of spite involved there but there does seem to be a flirtatious vibe to it too.) and Nezuya has an alien girlfriend, because of course he does….man, I love this show.

It’s pretty heavily implied that Souya and Nozomi got together but I would like confirmation. normally shipping would annoy me but I like these characters too much and all hell will break loose if they don’t kiss at least once. I really must applaud just how well this show is concluding as this episode pretty much answers every lingering question one could have. What is the dragon? A member of the people of paradise who refused to give up his body and built psychokinetic armour around himself till he lost his human form. Why are the people of paradise helping? The person helping Souya is the older brother of the dragon and wishes to save him. Was Takashi related to the dragon? Yes, he was a part of his psychokinetic armour that fell from the moon and formed into a human being which the dragon ”dreamed” of.(Was it that a dragon dreamed of being a human or that a human dreamed of being a dragon?) How is humanity dealing with the weird incidents from five years ago? Still debated but most have moved on with their lives. Even as far as where everyone is currently at in their lives and how they developed has been answered and the only unfinished business is dealing with the dragon himself.

Standout of the episode was Ginko and Souya’s talk on the roof as it really does highlight how they have developed a brother sister relationship against all odds considering they are from two previously waring races. It’s nice to see Souya move past vengeance and seek out retribution for the things his race did highlighting that no one in this show is truly evil, but rather has their own perspectives which can clash badly. Even the Dragon seems confused and lost as he lost his place when his rare evolved past bodies, leaving him without anywhere to go back to. In fact the Dragon feels like he is in the same place that Souya was at the start of the series, having lost everything he ever cared about and lashing out. His actions in destroying Sirius were mainly motivated in his sense of justice and believing Siriuains were beyond hope. Now he himself is in the position of being beyond forgiveness, yet still being forgiven by the same race whom he deemed beyond hope. I admit that these things are rather cheesy, especially when talking about evolution of love but is feels like the right kind of cheesy for this kind of show. That is the thing, for a show featuring mass genocide, this show is remarkably positive throughout. Everyone is trying to go there own way in life even if that way leads them to make some awful decisions. But not everyone is beyond hope provided they are willing to reflect. Of course not everyone will reflect and that’s when you need to punch them in the face with a steel clog. That will put things in perspective…probably. Well on that last note I will say that if the final episode does not end in a clog punch that I will be greatly disappointed.

This week on Planet With, wimpy paladin decides to take on a sealing device, becomes an antagonist and…wins? I mean wow, I never saw this coming. Yousuke generally felt to me to be the gentle sort who was looking out for others but once Benika fell prey to her own sealing device causing her to lose all drive and motivation, Yousuke just went full villain. Not that I don’t understand his motivation here, he lost his brother and now the woman he loves is stuck in a eternal dream with that same brother so the only way he can see himself being happy is joining Benika in that dream. Of course the sealing faction won’t do that for free so Yousuke needs to seal the earth in Benika’s place, essentially fulfilling her last wish before falling to the sealing device. The parallel between him and Souya’s current mental state is interesting as both lost everything they care about and no longer care what happens to the world. So I love that Yousuke actually turned out to be the greatest threat to the earth despite being the more timid paladin solely because he didn’t approach the objective of sealing the earth with half hearted feelings. Benika didn’t truly want to seal the world and the sealing faction themselves seem torn on the idea with Generalissimo holding great respect for cat sensei’s wishes and Shiraishi not quite keen on the idea herself as she didn’t really want earth to go down without a fight. Yousuke on the other hand has strong conviction, kicks all the other paladins ass and accomplishes the goal.

If there is some spirit being channeled in this episode it’s hot blooded robot anime as what happens after this is true super robot action with all it’s cheesy glory. I am a little disappointed that Nozomi’s role remains firmly in the love interest alone category but damn if the second half of this episode was some truly hype action. Seeing what happens to a world that’s been sealed was interesting as it felt as though time had stopped and the direction from that to Souya pulling everyone out of the dream was excellent. Souya’s new found conviction was a little on the sudden side but I can see how he reached it and hopefully the people of paradise don’t end up some massive deus ex machina for the rest of the series but looks like this will be the one and only time they will lend a hand. It’s been very much an unsung hero of the series but the sound design is absolutely excellent. It can be easy to overlook such a thing but it can really make the difference when action is on screen. I have been taken out of the moment at times when I happened to recognized a stock effect being used.

I recall a show I watched were it showed a laser about to fire and I noticed that the power up noise was literally Samus’s arm cannon charge sound effect from Metroid Prime. Here through you can really feel those blows and the impacts. I recommend watching this series with headphones as it is certainly an experience. It’s a shame that the CGI cannot match that level of quality, I have gotten used to it for the most part but I find myself thinking of how much better things would looking if they animated the fights in 2D instead of 3D. My apologies to the CGI team of this show but these robots just don’t fit in this series they are far too out of place so it would have been better they someone made some filter to help them blend better or just scrapped CGI entirely. Well the Paladins are all down and that leaves just the sealing faction and the Dragon left to take down. So how hype will those fights be? Considering the scale of escalation it’s looking like the Generalissimo fight will be in space with them ending with fighting the dragon on the moon, which sounds pretty hype to me.

Why is it that no one is watching this show, as it is legitimately great. Looking online it’s sad to see that this show has pretty much no hype around it whatsoever. Those that stuck with it look to be pleasantly surprised but it seems that many got turned off by it’s first episode. It’s a shame truly as this show really has come into its own. It could be that Satoshi’s nature of making use of tropes and subverting them is working against him as viewer deem him as unoriginal before he managed to go against expectation. Take for example this episode where it has Souya refusing to fight the Sealing faction because his revenge is essentially complete now that the dragons power has been collected. Souya has no real reason to fight anymore and points out that everything he ever knew or loved is gone. Sure he has new friends on earth but the fact of the matter is that he truly lost everything before coming to earth. Any other anime the characters would start kicking the kid when he’s down and telling him to man up and fight the alien. Even in Evangelion they go out of their way to berate Shinji for not wanting to pilot a robot. Here it looks like they are heading in the same direction with even a member of the sealing faction questioning just why he isn’t fighting. But here one of the former paladins releases that Souya is just a kid and takes up the responsibility to fight the battle. Regardless it looks like Souya is going to get dragged into the battle no matter what as the paradise race tell him that the dragon is coming back at the dark side of the moon.

Benika got some development this week as she relates the story of a detective she used to admire who was killed by a kid with a gun. Making the reason why she joined the sealing faction being that she doesn’t trust humanity with power and believe that they will lose control like that kid who got his hands on a gun. What’s more it looks like the detective is the brother of Yousuke who likes Benika but looks like he feels he can’t measure up to the memory of his brother. on that if I am not mistaken it Benika looks to have feelings for Hideo and may have subconsciously wanted him to defeat her. Oh and great callback to him being the strongest of the paladins and having him defeat her. I thought that with the first half over and the paladins defeated that the op would need to be updated but they are gearing up to play a role in the second half of the series too. Comedy was on point here too with Souya seeing through Shiraishi’s illusion and having a mental crysis over whether real or illusionary boobs are better when she pressed up against him. Again, it starts as a common trope but then twists it in such an interesting way. Not to mention that cheeky little ghost in the shell reference at the beginning.

Overall I like that the paladins are coming back into the story as new warriors to fight the sealing faction and Souya’s growing psychic powers. Little disappointed that Nozomi didn’t take up the position of protecting the town but there does seem to be hints of her taking a more active role besides romantic interest. The comedy still makes things quite fun with even the antagonists lightening up like Shiraishi buting green with envy over Souya and Nozomi’s date. Benika looks like she’s out of the sealing faction so I wonder just what she will do now after being defeated. Well who knows what could happen in the best show that no one is watching.

With that conclusive finale last episode, many of us were left wondering just where things go from here. As it turns out, our main protagonist Souya thought the same. The answer as it turns out is that with the palidains taken down, the sealing faction has risen up to become the new antagonist of the series. The former secretary of the paladins and member of the sealing faction has infiltrated Souya’s school as a student, which many joke that she is far too old to be pretending to be a student, and is brainwashing people into thinking she just transferred in. He little brainwashing power works on Souya but in a strange turn of events Nozomi isn’t affected by the power which either suggests that there is more to her than one would think or else her glasses managed to block out the power. It’s also nice to see that the two palidains that didn’t fight in the previous arc have joined the sealing faction and now Souya will be fighting them once again. On top of all this we have the introduction of a brand new mysterious figure who claims to be the oldest race in the universe. Seems he can only be seen by Souya and takes on the form of Souya’s brother with chances being higher that they were the ones to cause the dragon to go berserk in the first place.

We have gotten background on what happened to Sirius as well as who the odd maid girl(Ginko) who takes care of Souya is. Turns out that Ginko is a space princess(No matter how I say that it will always sound silly but hey we got mascot costume aliens so…) and at the time of the dragon attack Sirius was invading her planet. Looks like Sirius gains psychic power and started invading other planets to conquer. Which caused the dragon to deem them beyond salvation and thus wiped them out. Nya Sensei for once talks by himself in this episode and tried to prevent all this from happening but was ultimately too late, only managing to save Souya. It’s a bit sad that nya sensei wasn’t able to truly affect the outcome but I don’t truly see his actions as pointless. For one i actually believe that what he said to the dragon truly made a difference as if Tesuza was the reincarnation of the dragon it could mean that Nya Sensei’s words changed his opinion. So he sought to rule over earth rather than destroy it after seeing them close to taking the same path as Sirius.

In fact that is the entire reason that the sealing faction is the new antagonist as earth is close to awakening psychic powers and the sealing faction fully believes that once they do then they will repeat the mistakes of Sirius and start trying to conquer other star systems. Souya also looks to have awakened psychic power which has me wondering as to what role that will play. Seems there is some theory going around that Nozomi is going to take over the protagonist role now that Souya has decided this all has nothing to do with him.

Well that’s the end of Planet With and what a satisfying ending it was. I mean that final fight was something that would do Gurren Lagann proud and while there are some loose ends the majority of things were tied up quite nice…what do you mean this is only episode six? Hold on, there are six episodes left?! Um…alright, that are a rather conclusive way to hit the midpoint of the series and I truly have no idea of just where it will go from here. But I must say that if this was the ending of the series I would actually be alright with that. Yes Planet With hasn’t quite reached the heights of Satoshi’s other work but it has proved to be a fun series and that last episode was truly marvelous. After watching Fate/Extra’s lackluster conclusion this episode managed to pull off what it couldn’t with a incredibly satisfying final fight against the big bad. It is no joke that this was the absolute best episode of the series so far and has me very interested to see where this could go.

There is a some casualty to this midway conclusion as two of the paladins just straight up give up their powers without a fight. One rejected the leaders ideals and tossed aside her power at the end of episode four and the other just handed over his after the old man fell, stating that he was only staying to help take care of him. It is a little on the disappointing side but when thinking about it this series was making it a bit of a formula with the defeat of the paladins. It could have gotten a bit tiresome to run through the same motions with two other paladins. The old man’s fight against Souya was build up quite a bit in episode five but ended in a single strike in the first minutes of episode six but the fight against Takashi more than made up for that. Takashi’s father, Takezo, had me worried that like Nezuya that he would be a joke character as his alien flashback was just him hanging out with women and eating great food. But he brushed off that pretty easy and showed that there was more to him than he let on. Another nice surprise was that when Nozomi figured out Souya’s connection to the aliens and Souya even telling her who he was. Something like that is normally left for the final episodes which again makes this midpoint ending feel all the more final despite it not even being the real ending. But again it’s refreshing to she Satoshi set up what could be a tired cliche and end up turning it into a true moment of character growth.

But man that final fight. I am serious when I say that I haven’t felt this satisfied after a good punch up since Gurren Lagann. You can argue that it followed predictable beats but I felt it subverted enough to keep things interesting and the fight remained pretty high octane. The best part being the final strike where Souya from nowhere brings back the joke about the clogs and uses one as a makeshift brass knuckle to land the final punch. That was simultaneously hilarious and pretty badass that I was caught between hype, laughter and surprise. Having Souya completely mess up the message Takezo gave him to pass on to his son was also great but even the humor managed to lead to a good moment where Souya at least conveys the intent causing Takshi to admit that his father might have been right. After that he dies, yes, our protagonist accidently killed the guy. Well it’s likely his death was more the result of him overusing the dragons power but it does seem like this is going to weight pretty heavy on Souya. If there was a flaw in this episode it would be that rather hasty exposition dump about the nature of the dragon and how the sealing faction “absolutely destroyed” it. Sure they did, certainly that dragon ain’t coming back in any shape or form right? Well even the General even seems to doubt that point and convincing himself of it. To me this episode shows the true potential of a Satoshi’s writing could have for anime and how good he is at planning out concise and focused stories. The director is stating that things are going to get real crazy after this and you know what? I can’t wait.

Missed a week thanks to work being a hectic mess but I can say that it’s not due to a lack of interest in this show. For this show actually gets better and better each week. The backstory of what is going on is still rather vague but we at least know now that the main protagonist is an alien whose home planet was destroyed by a giant dragon. It seems that the heroes are currently making use of the dragons remains to be able to summon god armour to combat the Nebula sealers sending down the weird monsters which give people visions. Said sealers all appear to look like mascot characters and the cat sensei branched off into his own faction after failing to stop the dragon from destroying the main protagonists homeworld. Now he enlists his help because working with the boy ampilies his own powers and he wants the kid to start a new life on earth. Meanwhile the paladins leader appears to have the goal of using the dragons power to take over the world to form world peace which has caused a rift to form between him and one of the remaining paladins.

Episode four certainly shows the dangers of using the dragons power and I find it interesting in that this girl was essential repeating her past of wanting to avenger her best friend and despite events playing out similarly, the end result was far more disastrous. I am a little disappointed that they threw out some haphazard explanation about the area she shot a fireball at having be evacuated insuring no was hurt but I suppose it would have been a bit too much of a dark turn for this series.

It’s a bit of a shame that Nezuya didn’t happen to get his characterisation moment with the Sealer vision and looks to be confirmed to just be a big joke character as his vision just has to do with him wishing to be a harem protagonist like any anime very clearly catered to his demographic. If there is a weak link in this show I would say it’s him as he’s a comic relief character whose just not very comedic. I got more laughs out of Souya’s reaction to the “Cat Doping” transformation with him just echoing the thoughts of the audience as Cat sensei swallows what is essentially steroids. Not to mention that the aftereffects of it is a massive hangover which sort of is the opposite of berserker dragon Harumi who came out of this better. I do actually question her friendship with Miu and while I normally don’t go into these kinds of assumptions as I feel it’s short sighted and generally unfounded, here I think there is some evidence to suggest Harumi’s feelings for Miu go beyond simple friendship. I mean in her vision she saw herself as a princess with Miu being her prince which certainly is quite suggestive. So we have hit episode four and the paladins have been brought down to two not counting the president. This series has yet to truly excel yet so can it change from good to great with it’s remaining eight episodes?

Now that’s part of why I love you Satoshi, you lay out a shounen cliche and subvert the hell out of it. Even having Torai in the room about to leave the group only for the leader to say that he could still help them goes against the usual foil of someone getting expelled out of the organization after defeat. It’s been one episode and already love these Paladin guys, for considering they are supposed to be the villains(?) they all hang out like ordinary people. For they don’t think of themselves as villains and actually see themselves as heroes which by all accounts they could very well be. So here’s the rundown as it stands now, we have three factions, the Nebula sealing faction(The weird ass aliens) which seeks to stop humanities evolution due to fear they will take the wrong path, the Nebula Soldiers faction(Souya and cat sensei) who wish to watch over humanity passively without interfering and the Paladins whose goal isn’t quite certain yet. It could have something to do with what the maid mentioned about Humanity taking the evolution of Love or the evolution of power. The leader of the Paladins looked to nearly spill the beans as he looked over the city and declared his determination to defeat the Nebula soldiers…but then he was interrupted by his dad hitting on the secretary. Honestly laughed with him getting exasperated and shouting “Would you knock it the fu-”

So there is a bit of formula going here with another Alien showing up with another Hero getting an illusion shown to her followed by Souya and crew defeating her afterwards. But by all accounts the heroes made some smart moves here for one they got everyone to go home in pairs so Souya had to fight two of them and it seems they laid down an ambush where all the heroes trapped him by episodes end. Pretty clever, others should take notes that instead of letting someone whittle down your forces one by one, maybe just attack them with everyone from the start. As for the flashback within the Alien I actually kinda like these as they act as good spitfire ways of knocking out some development for the Paladins. With it we at least know Miu has a complex over strength and used to fight in Judo tournament with the shy Paladin she’s paired up with. It’s funny that the girl was trying to show her determination to break out of the illusion as something heroic by claiming she has real power now but that certainly seems like a flawed resolution. The Illusion was trying to convince that she doesn’t need to be strong and that it’s okay to be weak and she demissed that by running away to the supernatural power she has gained, one which was all too easily stripped away by episodes end.

Overall I say this show is getting more and more interesting, so it’s a shame that the negative factor would be the action of the show itself. The fight choreography is actually good with two people fight at once instead of having one standby. Even the dialogue and sound is on point. The only problem is that I wish this team could have stolen a mecha animator from the new season of Full Metal Panic or hell even someone from Ufotable because these mecha look bad and there movement is jank. It’s a shame because the action in this series could be so very good but with these CGI models you might as well be slaping plastic figurines together. The CGI actually detracts from the design of the mecha themselves as this is what they look like in the manga. I in particular don’t understand why they took away each mechs individual colour and just gave them all some rainbow energy stuff. The different colours helped them look more distinct. Well dodgy CGI aside this show is getting quite a bit interesting, I for one wonder why they insist on not feeding any meat to Souya. Hopefully the steady uprise of quality continues and this becomes something rather special.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: I'm not wholly against fillers if they are done correctly, sometimes they can be a short moment of peace in a characters hellish life, sometimes they can be amusing or flesh out characters or allow good character chhemistry.

Kaiser-Eoghan
That time I got reincarnated an daikmura in another world =)

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: I remember there is a review somewhere on this blog of an anime adaptation of Les Miserables, I've only seen the film 1990s adaptation though. I wonder if any of those classic book anime adaptations are actually worth watching?

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: I may have sounded like I was being down on Mahou Asuka, the manga became a decent guilty pleasure, I agree with you on action and pace but I prefer the anime designs, though I stopped watching the anime because of the speedlines/animation/pace, the dub is hilarious though.

Vonter
I do wonder if there has ever been stated how much time or pages you have in either medium. Since that was mentioned in the adaptation of Les Miserables, 300 pages to fit all one could of that novel, even joking about how a character only appeared in one page because of that limitation.

Vonter
Overlord is another one I wonder if it might work better as a visual novel. Mainly because the anime is dialogue heavy and where I think it has stumbled is that it has a lot of characters to ever give the needed time to develop each of them. Season 2 had several episodes focusing on a weak lizardman tribe.

Vonter
Mahou Asuka, I think it might work better in manga format. The anime while not the worst thing, drags a lot for what it has delivered. The manga I think it has better art, composition, but it mainly comes and goes way faster. Because it supposed to be more action than narrative in this case. It could be said the same thing of Triage.

Vonter
I've been thinking about the use of time and narrative time in both manga and anime. I suppose the anime studios have to hit a certain number of episodes which demand stretching the run of a story in any way. Filler episode? Several episodes to build up a dramatic scene? Bringing something that doesn't add anything important?

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Lenlo: Actually I can sort of understand how you feel, after I read the flashbacks to dororo's parents , the some chapter after felt a bit inferior to that.

Lenlo
I appreciate the keepin me in check though! Sometimes writing these posts makes me feel I have to be "critical" and I think that can skew my writing at times.

Lenlo
Like I said Kaiser, I feel that whatever Dororo did this week would have to live up to episode 6, and that was a nigh impossible task. I still enjoy the series, it just had a bit of a hitch for me is all.,

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Lenlo: Dororo's anime will give you a confrontation with the brother, curb your expectations with Daigo, Dororo's past is excellent. But it will still do episodic stuff.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: I actually watched it alongside reading those mahou shoujo Asuka chapters due to you putting both in the same sentence.

Vonter
Kinda like the Batman series of the 90s. Which happens to have better stories and characters plus the dark atmosphere.

Vonter
Yeah, it's hard to explain but it's a series I'll recommend in regards to the mood and atmosphere it conveys, moreso than the story or characters. It makes me wish that some other anime with better stories had a bit more weight in terms of atmosphere since I think this one does it with very few elements.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: I remember a mazinger reference in there too, also one of the buildings says Dagon on it, which fits very well I think.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: It felt like a full series take on a ova that I always wanted.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: the 90s artstyle/lighting/atmosphere definitely helped and there was some of the psychological bit in there.

Vonter
Also I might be wrong, but I can't recall a female counterpart that has ever exceeded the original. So by design Devilman Lady has an uphill battle, but I do like that she's not an Akira 2.0 the character has her own conflicts and ore than the monsters it seems to be a duality between her supermodel job and her actual self. Which at least its something.

Vonter
@Kaiser-Eoghan - I'm glad at least it kept your interest. Devilman Lady while not as infuential it's an interesting time capsule of the type of horror in the 80s. It's a bit sci fi and a bit supernatural like the Guyver. What standed out to me was the mood, it sort of leaves you in a trance when it just let the visuals and music immerse you.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Also, Return of the king/Kaiser and stuff, new computer arrived early.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Amagi: I read the recent beastars chapters, though I hope they eventually get back to focusing on Haru x legosi soon.

Kaiser-Eoghan
They finally translated another 7 seeds chapter, I think its nearing its endgame.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: There was a hilariously dumb scene where one of the mascots pull out double guns.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: Some 4channer posted further on scans from magical girl spec ops, I read 5 volumes, doesn't have much of plot, they explained who cyborg guy was and introduced another magical girl villain with a shitty childhood and some obvious hinting as to who The queen is.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: That is isn't the original devilman, nor does it exceed it.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: My spare laptop managed to survive long enough for me to marathoned devilman lady, albeit in SD quality, I enjoyed it for what it was and that it never made a joke of its trashiness, Nagai's imagination in creature design continues to be fun. The only thing I can really call it out n is....

Kaiser-Eoghan
I've been continuing that manga by the author of aku no hana, the one about the kid with the psycho mother, its increasingly threatening.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Also, regarding dororo, there was a chapter in the manga with some lord and a moth woman he unknowingly fell in with, this week was anime original but kind of had a human/monster relation thing going on, the manga was less sympathetic.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I liked the part between yuki and Kakeru , additionally, I'm looking forward to seeing the full background for Haiji aswell. I'm running out of things to say about the show.

Anonymous3444196
This last stretch of episodes is going to be good, so I heard from that novel reader. As long as the production doesn't derail itself, we're in for a treat.

Anonymous3444196
It's pretty obvious that with Haiji being the one running the final section of the Ekiden, that this might be his last.

Anonymous3444196
I do think that there'll be an episode of downtime between the episodes covering the 1st and 2nd days of the marathon. And maybe we'll finally get to see Haiji's past prior to his leg injury.

Anonymous3444196
So there's 5 episodes left, and it'll cover both days of the Ekiden since it's split into two sections. I heard from the novel reader that the 10th and final chapter is over 100 pages long, so having 5 episodes should be enough to cover everything. Shindo's running last in the 1st half but he's got a cold, which does bring some concern.

Anonymous3444196
Seems like a pretty slow week here. Anyhow, in this Kaze ga ,we're at the final stretch before the Ekiden next episode. Really liked Fujioka's speech at the start. They're also starting to unravel more on Haiji's past as well.

Kaiser-Eoghan
ahahahaha so that was it, she is voiced by Kana Hanazawa.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Something that came to mind when watching that quintuplets show, somehow the archetype I ended up going for was Ichika's character somehow. Never usually the case.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Y'know usually its fairly consistent, traits I notice/like/am attracted to most in a character's appearence and then there are those odd cases where I somehow end up finding a character attractive or something that I'd usually never.

Kaiser-Eoghan
New computer on its way now, 24 inch screen, wireless everything, 1000gb, got it for only 800 euro.

Kaiser-Eoghan
The current laptop I've got on loan I'm using is kind of a pain to use, makes doing anything including typing/posting/watching slow, its a ropey old windows millenium edition laptop that I'd stopped using years ago.@Amagi: Also a sequel to legend of koizumi has been translated.

Vonter
The cutscenes in that game kinda look a bit off, like with the Dragon Prince show they look a bit choppy.

Anonymous3425269
Personally, I'm really hoping that Orange did them so they can gain more recognition working on a big franchise.

Anonymous3425269
I'm guessing Orange, Polygon or GEMBA did the CG cutscenes for the new Fire Emblem. They look too different from Echoes' CG cutscenes to come from Khara.

Kaiser-Eoghan
It was always the second Zelda game I never played, that one is frowned upon.

Vonter
I see Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time as two halves of a single whole. Ocarina had the standard story but expanded from what was set in A Link to the Past. Majora's Mask has more in common to Link's Awakening being more about the characters you meet, and even Link himself. I think one has what the other doesn't. Ocarina had better dungeons, but Majora had more involved and menaningful sidequest.

Kaiser-Eoghan
The remastered ocarina of time soundtrack is some of my favourite videogame music out there.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I know its not ranked among the best Zelda games, but links awakening was the first zelda game I played in the early 90s, I also remember they re-released a colour version of it too that allowed you to do extra stuff with the gameboy camera and printer.

Vonter
So Nintendo had a Direct. A sequel to Mario Maker, a remake to Link's Awakening, a Tetris Battle Royale game, a new game from Platinum games called Astral Chain, a school type Fire Emblem, etc.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I guess if I was asked why I did anything, including if it was some game/sport or if I was a runner I'd probably answer the question by saying I was in it for a laugh or for a genuine good time because it'd be something I'd be enjoying.

Lenlo
@Kaiser, Dororo was awesome. This was a great week and arc. Mio is best girl.

Lenlo
Look, if the ending can make it work, I will forgive the CGI runners. But you have to admit, they don't look good

Anonymous3419991
@Lenlo But for now, you'll just have to grin and bear it when the next preliminary races prior to the Ekiden use CG for the background runners.

Anonymous3419991
I heard from a novel reader that the book is 10 chapters long, and this is currently adapting chapter 8. Chapter 10 covering the Ekiden is the longest part of the novel and will probably be covered in 3 episodes. Hope IG is saving all their resources on this finale judging by the CG used in previous episodes.

Anonymous3419991
It's also great to see how far Kurahana has come since the start. Even when confronting Sakaki being arrogant and all.

Anonymous3419991
And so this episode of Kaze ga is a breather episode, but we do get some more character development with the twins. It's nice to see Fujioka again.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Lenlo: I would happily have watched two more episodes of this arc in dororo.

Fuurophausiyuder
Speaking of loving hell fonts, I notice that the review body text, and this text here are both sans-serif; which sort of princess of variable typefaces is not present for this readability bit to land?

Fuurophausiyuder
Dororo is awesome for just the hell fonts. I kind of expect on-brand gazebos (the temple to the 10 demons) to sell well this summer at Lowe's, Restoration Hardware, RH, wherever it is actually okay stuff derives, etc. I was kind of hoping the transitional story would lift all transitional boats, but that storyline has gone to soil microbes in the USA diaspora (though you know, stay classy PR.)

Fuurophausiyuder
Kemurikusa is like Kemeko DX if all the chemicals were fentanyl and the promise of a plot muted by lingering death were only ever expected to be a possibility. What had anyone watching ep. 3...5? Clinical use?

Kaiser-Eoghan
I'm also glad that tv anime like this is allowed to be so violent in this day and age.

Kaiser-Eoghan
To be honest it really is the only new show this season I currently especially care about.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I decided to read the whole Dororo manga and I think this weeks episode was every bit as moving as the manga was while building on it. I think if adapted correctly dororo (the character)'s backstory, the stuff with Daigo's son will be a highlight. I do think they could get rid of shounen shark guy though later on and not bother including him.

Anonymous3415569
The other thing, is how both this and She Ra have the same premise of the main character changing from the villain to the heroic side. I don't know if that's a good pattern but it's and interesting way to build a female character in which the relationship with their old friends is a way to add pathos.

Anonymous3415569
It felt like a new version of inspector Gadget could be do like this. Considering how it frames the criminal organization (for kids). And also maybe a crossover could work?

Anonymous3415569
I watched the Carmen SanDiego Netflix series. It was ok. I did like the simple visual style and Saturday morning vibe. It's clearly more for a younger audience, yet it wasn't that boring. Still all I could think about while watching it were 2 things:

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Bothanons: Issues on both sides of the spectrum.@Wooper: Its the politest take you could get on that premise.@Mario: I think the anime skipped some stuff from the after the rain manga, I should probably read the manga.

SuperWooper
I heard that show was about a teenage girl's crush on an older man. Sounds pretty problematic to me. I'm with the rest of the Internet on this one.

SuperMario
Apparantly the other side of anime fandom (the internet) doesn’t watch Koi wa Ameagari

Lenlo
The reddit anime awards are done! I did it! I was on stream! Oh joy. Can talk about this now.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Niello: I have decided to adopt the same approach for the new True detective season also.

niello
@Eoghan: Exactly my thought three episodes in. I wish I realise it before I picked up the show, because I definitely need to watch those three episodes again.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I want to watch new boogiepop at some point, but I'm just hoping it ends so I can just marathon the show, it'd be too confusing to watch once a week, instead of straight through in one go.

Amagi
Oh I just realize it's the same team as HnK well that explains that.

Amagi
@Aidan: Unsure too about the trailer but it reminds me more of Houseki, qualitywise, and less of all the other bad CGI shows. I have hope. Same with Vinland. Trailer had some CGI and Thorkell's design feels a bit different but aside from that it was good.

SuperMario
Damn, just looked at the teaser of Beastars and I’m hooked. I’m hyped for the show

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Niello: Beastars is a good choice for them yes, as was Houseki no kuni, Majestic prince which they co-made was really underated back when it aired.

niello
I like how Orange Studio seems to have good eyes for manga. And it looks as if they are trying to go for stories that lets them avoid animating normal humans. So, ones that are more compatible with their CG visual. It'd be nice if this lead to some manga adaptation that won't happen otherwise.

Vonter
I think people get too worked up on Shield Hero. While not a great show, I have found it entertaining. I suppose the underdog aspect also got meta. With that said, I think if instead of the heroine reapplying the slave contract they should have made a contract or something like that, that felt one-sided.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I actually have more confidence in the cgi if its done by the houseki team.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Aidan: When I talked to amagi about Beastars I don't think I ever heard your views on it. Also from what I recall you haven't read Vinland?

Kaiser-Eoghan
Years ago I read almost of Yoshihiro's stuff, although I never got around to finishing a drifting life by him, I also read that Mizuki guy manga i mentioned.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I've been wondering about this for a bit, is anyone on here familiar with the Gekiga period/wave of manga from the 50s and 60s to very early 70s? Such as stuff the by Yoshihiro Tatsumi and also Shigeru Mizuki's Onward toward noble death?

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Anon: I was right in there with them waiting to hear the results.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I'm glad that even though it showed then in a top ten list, they weren't up the top of it. Its more believable that way. Also who'd of though a race would be so tense?

Animosh
Also happy to see that the twins will get some spotlight next week. Aside from Musa they've had the least development so far, so they can use the attention. I also like that someone's finally raising the question what the point of it all is. If you have no chance of winning, why compete? It's a valid question, and I'm looking forward to hearing Haiji's answer.

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Star Crossed Anime Blog

Featured Posts

Welp, I’m back to the normal schedule now so my blogging will be back to normal from now on. My apology for those who waited for my weekly blogs for the last few weeks. For Kemurikusa, episode 6 was a slow one, even slower than its standard (and that says a lot), but the latest […]

Welcome to another week of Paranoia Agent! This week Kon explores different generations, Shounen Bat gets caught and the Old Lady becomes relevant. Lets dive in! After the bumpy reception I had towards last week’s episode, Paranoia Agent bounced back to wow me this week. Production wise, it was incredibly expressive this week. With the […]

Welcome to the big one, the start, the opening moments of Kaze Fui’s Hakone Ekiden! This week Fujioka drops some wisdom, the team learns their sections and Yuki gets some time with Kurahara. Lets jump in! This week was Kaze Fui’s big setup, along with some drops on Haiji’s background. Before we get to either of […]

Hello and welcome to what is, I believe, an anime original week of Dororo! This time we have a sympathetic ghoul, Hyakki dealing with his emotions and a continually worse feudal landscape. Lets jump in! Dororo was a rather disappointing one after last week, to be frank. Story wise there were some interesting ideas and […]

Hello and welcome to the halfway point of Mob Psycho Season 2! This week continues Reigen’s story as he rises high, falls low and comes to an epiphany. Lets jump in! Starting off, Mob Psycho once again looks fantastic. Say what you want about the story or characters, the quality of the animation is undeniable. […]

The treasurer of the student council, Ishigami Yuu, finally got a proper introduction this week. I’d say this episode was his time to shine, but it’s actually the opposite – he’s so preoccupied with Kaguya’s apparent hatred of him (as well as his own social faux pas) that it was actually his time to mope. […]

This week, once again, Paranoia Agent takes another interesting turn. This time we follow the cop who caught Shounen Bat, see a bit into organized crime and watch a man fall apart at the seams. Lets go! So in general, while this episode was interesting and explored some more aspects of society, I wasn’t big […]

For all of you who are disappointed that we didn’t cover the sequel to the show that even Elon Musk watches, I felt that this season of Kakegurui would benefit more from an periodic overview rather than following it week from week. Kakegurui was never about the mechanics nor tense stakes as it relies on […]

Welcome to the feel good relaxation week of Kaze Fui! This time the Twins confront Haiji, they see the track and Sakaki continues to be a dick. Lets jump in! Starting off, this episode was a very subdued one. Similar to Mob, Kaze Fui slowed down this week. Giving the characters room to breathe again […]

Latest Reviews

If there is one thing I have lost watching seasonal anime, it is patience. Every week I expect something to happen, some kind of payoff, to make watching that week worth it. Luckily, Planetes as brought that back to me. Its depth of writing, characters, and general structure belay an anime of a different age. […]

The controversial nature of this shows opening episode may have many turning away from it due to believing it’s nothing but shock value but that truly isn’t what Goblin Slayer is. I will say that the manga may hold some truth to that statement but thanks to some tasteful censoring(Yes, sometimes censoring can be a […]

Zombieland Saga was a show that came out of the gate guns blazing, no one expected it nor did anyone predict it but it left a strong impression when it first aired it’s starting episodes. Originally considered to be another zombie apocalypse anime, it overthrew expectations by turning out to be a zombie idol anime. […]

Let it be known that I’ve never been a fan of Trigger. For me, they’re one of the most style-with-no-substance studio on Earth with a tendency for god-awful fanservice, and total nonsense in terms of story and characters. Yet GRIDMAN completely caught me off guard in the first two episodes, and from there, there was […]

If anyone has been familiar with the first season of Thunderbolt Fantasy, you’d find yourself a lot to enjoy in this second installment. Served as a sequel, but not a direct continuation to the first, viewers don’t need the knowledge of the original in order to enjoy this ride. Thunderbolt 2 carries many trademarks that […]

In the last few years, it’s great to see P.A Works has slowly created their own studio identity, putting more original works with consistent production values. Just in 2018, they produced 4 shows (quite a good number if you ask me), 3 of them were original: Maquia, Sirius the Jaeger and Irozuku. As I said, […]

In the wake of many a school based light novel show this may be the small bits of fresh air was can savor out of this overdone setting. Rascal does not dream of Bunny Girl(Or by its japanese title above) is a series not about rascals or bunny girls but instead about contextualising common high […]

Some days, I wonder what it is with America and anime about organized crime. Baccano!, 91 Days, Blood Blockade Battlefront, all set in America, all involving criminal underworlds. Today, I get to add another to that list in the form of Banana Fish. Much more grounded than the others, it’s story dates all the way […]

According to much of the Western Anime community, this series wouldn’t be relevant for a site like this. Being made in the West by Americans, and English being its first language, many would disqualify it from the start. However I name them all fools for Castlevania, Directed by Sam Deats and Ryoichi Uchikoshi is clearly […]